Canada's rugged west drew
many homesteaders in the late
nineteenth century, where
pure, clean water flowed
freely and fish and game were
plentiful. In 1881, carpenter
John Leod McDonald was the
earliest pioneer to stake a
claim in a region of Alberta
then known as Dog Rump Creek,

not far from today's
Edmonton. As soon as McDonald
became the area's first
postmaster, he successfully
lobbied to have the
settlement renamed Stony
Plain, which he found more
becoming.
Between 1906 and 1907,
the Edmonton, Yukon & Pacific

Railway completed a line 19
miles west of Edmonton which
was meant to cut through
Stony Plain. But the new
track missed its mark
substantially. Recognizing
the convenience and economic
opportunity the railroad
represented, the town elders
moved their small community

to the railway. Using 20
teams of horses, they rolled
the buildings to the present
site of Stony Plain. The move
drew more settlers, as they
knew it would. By 1908, not
long after the first train
had rumbled its way through,
the population was over 1,000
and Stony Plain was